Perceptions of first year dental students on case based learning in Physiology

Background: Application of basic science knowledge to clinical practice is the aim of first year undergraduate dental curriculum. To bring in application of basic science theory to the clinical dental application, a case based learning (CBL) approach has been tried among first year dental students. Materials and methods: Randomized control trial was conducted by grouping first year undergraduate dental students (N= 73) into traditional group (N=35) and CBL group (N=38). Conventional lecture was given to traditional group and case based lecture and small group discussion for CBL group facilitated by faculty. Pre and post tests were administered for both the groups. Perceptions on CBL approach were collected using a questionnaire. Results were analyzed using paired and unpaired ‘t' test. Results: Test scores were expressed in mean ± SD. deviation. Post-tests scores of traditional - (7.5 ±1.6) and CBL (7.7±1.9) groups were significantly higher than pretest scores of traditional - (5.7 ± 1.4) and CBL (4.9 ± 1.7) groups. Attitude score showed positive perceptions for most of the parameters. Conclusion: The first time CBL approach for Physiology concept provoked interest among dental students. Participants felt the method involved them in active learning and they recommended this approach to other sessions as well. Recall of factual knowledge did not improve significantly over traditional method, but was equally effective.